Anemone

John La Farge prints bring together delicate flowers, misty New England coasts and the bright light of Samoa and Tahiti. La Farge was an American painter, muralist and stained-glass pioneer who decorated Boston's Trinity Church and invented a new kind of opalescent glass window. Our collection of fine art prints covers his still lifes, Newport landscapes, Japanese and South Seas travel pictures, and studies for murals and windows.

About John La Farge

John La Farge was born in New York City on 31 March 1835 to wealthy French parents and grew up speaking both French and English. He studied law, but a visit to Paris in 1856 led him to study painting briefly with Thomas Couture. After his father died in 1858 he took a studio in the new Tenth Street Studio Building in Greenwich Village and, on the architect Richard Morris Hunt's advice, studied with William Morris Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island.

In the 1860s he illustrated Tennyson and Browning and painted landscapes and flower pieces of unusual colour. In the 1870s he turned to murals, starting with Trinity Church in Boston in 1873, followed by the Church of the Ascension and St Paul's Chapel in New York. From 1875 he experimented with stained glass, layering opalescent glass in a new way, and won a patent in 1880, which later led to a dispute with his rival Louis Comfort Tiffany.

In 1886 he travelled to Japan with the historian Henry Adams, and in 1890 and 1891 the two toured Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii, journeys he described in Reminiscences of the South Seas. He co-founded the Society of American Artists in 1877, led the National Society of Mural Painters from 1899 to 1904, and in 1904 was among the first seven members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in Providence, Rhode Island, on 14 November 1910.

Style and Subjects

La Farge was above all a colourist. His early flower paintings, like Calla Lily and Water Lily in Sunlight, are quiet and closely observed, often set against dark grounds, and his Newport landscapes catch subtle changes of light and weather. He was one of the first Americans to take a deep interest in Japanese art.

His South Seas watercolours are freer and brighter, full of dancers, canoes and tropical coastlines, while his murals and windows show figures from the Bible and history in rich, glowing colour.

Famous Works

• Calla Lily (1862), Princeton University Art Museum. A single lily painted with close attention to colour and light.
• Wreath of Flowers (1866), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. A delicate early flower painting.
• Flowers on a Japanese Tray on a Mahogany Table (1879), Brooklyn Museum, New York. A still life that shows his interest in Japanese objects.
• The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura (1887), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The great Buddha seen from the priest's garden, from his 1886 trip to Japan.
• Siva Dance at Night (1890), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Samoan dancers by firelight, from his travels with Henry Adams.
• Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa (1891), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A bright watercolour of daily life in Samoa.
• The Island of Moorea Looking across the Strait from Tahiti (1891). A broad view of the island across blue water.

Decorating with La Farge Prints

La Farge's flower pictures are lovely in a bedroom, dining room or entry hall, and their dark backgrounds and soft colour suit traditional and Victorian interiors. A pair such as Calla Lily and Wreath of Flowers makes an elegant grouping above a sideboard.

The Samoa and Tahiti watercolours bring warm, airy colour to a sunroom, beach house or bathroom, and the Japanese scenes and mural studies suit a study or library.

FAQ

What is John La Farge known for?

He is known for his stained glass, especially his opalescent glass windows, his murals in Trinity Church, Boston, and his flower paintings and South Seas watercolours.

Did John La Farge invent opalescent glass windows?

He was the first to use flat sheets of opalescent glass in windows, layering them for depth, and he received a patent for the method in 1880. Louis Comfort Tiffany later became his rival in the field.

Where can I see John La Farge's work?

Trinity Church in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum all hold his work.

Why did La Farge travel to the South Seas?

He travelled with his friend Henry Adams in 1890 and 1891, visiting Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii, and wrote about the journey in Reminiscences of the South Seas.

Related Artists

• William Morris Hunt: his teacher in Newport around 1859
• Thomas Couture: French painter he studied with briefly in Paris in 1856
• Louis Comfort Tiffany: his great rival in opalescent stained glass
• Winslow Homer: American painter of the same generation